Your Tuesday Morning Digital Dump!

So I know we're all politically engaged, what did you think of the debate?

Here's my takeaway:

And of course there's this:

Alright, enough politics.

I see my pal Paul Huck Jr. landed at Hunton:

Paul Huck Jr., the husband and son of judges, has joined Hunton & Williams as a partner in the Miami office.

Huck, a litigator, worked at Colson Hicks Eidson in Coral Gables for four years and served as general counsel to then-Governor Charlie Crist from 2007 to 2008.

Huck said he was looking to join a national law firm to expand his commercial litigation and attorney general investigation practice. He represents clients who are being investigated by the Florida attorney general’s office on civil matters.

“I was looking for a firm with a national footprint,” he said.

Note to managing partners -- this is how you gracefully handle a lawyer departure:

“Hunton & Williams is fortunate that he has joined,” Dean Colson, managing partner at Colson Hicks Eidson said in a statement Monday. “We know that Paul will continue to be very successful, and we wish him nothing but the best.”

Well done, Dean (and Paul)!

In other news, 11th Circuit appellate junkies will rejoice over a weird quirk that happens when en banc review is evenly divided -- the district court judgment is affirmed by operation of law, and the panel opinion is wiped out as if it never existed:

The decision of the district court is affirmed by an evenly divided court. The opinion of the panel remains vacated. United States v. Geders, 585 F.2d 1303, 1306 (5th Cir. 1978) (en banc) (“[T]he court en banc is evenly divided; therefore the judgment . . . of the district court is affirmed by operation of law.”); see id. (indicating that, if district court judgment is affirmed by operation of law, the panel opinion remains vacated); see also Reshard v. Britt, 839 F.2d 1499 (11th Cir. 1988); United States v. Sigma, Int’l, Inc., 300 F.3d 1278, 1280 (11th Cir. 2002) (en banc) (noting that when panel opinions are vacated they “are officially gone,” and “are void,” and none of the statements made in them “has any remaining force and cannot be considered to express the view of this Court.”).

Sorry panel, your opinion has been officially vaporized!

Charlie Crist Gets A New Job!

The tan one is taking a job at Morgan & Morgan, that big time PI firm upstate:

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has joined Morgan & Morgan. While serving in office, Crist was often referred to as “the People’s Governor.” His dedication and commitment to the people of Florida will remain the same as he works with the firm’s mass tort and class action department, fighting “for the people.” Crist said, “It's truly a privilege for me to have this opportunity to work all over our beautiful state. John Morgan has set up an incredible firm of very gifted people and it's truly an honor and a privilege to have this day come.” 

Morgan & Morgan was founded in 1988 with a single office and three attorneys; the firm has since grown into one of the largest in the southeast with 13 offices and over 170 lawyers, with a staff of more than 500 people. The growth and success of the firm can be attributed to a steadfast commitment to representing the people, not the powerful. It is this focus that appealed to Crist: “It’s really such a natural transition for me; to be with Morgan & Morgan and work with my dear friend John Morgan… he really is all about the people. That’s what I’ve always tried to do and aspire to do as a public servant. Now I’ll do it in the private sector.

I'm happy for him and think he'll do quite well at PI  (assuming Rick Scott will still allow people to sue) -- he's affable, easy going, quick on his feet and connects well with people.

Not everyone, of course, is thrilled.

For example, early Rubio-booster NRO thinks this is just, well, tacky and icky for any self-respecting elitist lawyer who should instead make big bucks representing mega corporations at [fill in the blank] BigFirm (perfectly ok by me btw):

All of which explains why some of my (admittedly, and archly, white-shoe) lawyer pals said yesterday when Morgan & Morgan announced its newest partner, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Hold on.

Just who are these "lawyer pals" -- Winthorpe's former friends at the club?

"And she stepped on the ball!"



And let me clue these condescending white-shoe ninnies in on something -- in Florida we actually have some prominent GOP conservative types who make a lot of money doing plaintiff's work -- Dean Colson for one comes to mind.

This means, you know, they actually have to interact with -- gross -- real human people, some of whom are poor, desperate and victimized, and try to help them with their problems and hope these lawyers get paid somewhere down the line and, even then, only if they are successful.

(This type of stuff never happens in white-shoe world).

If memory serves, as a matter of fact, former Senator and GOP chairman/original Hispanic poster boy Mel Martinez was a longtime partner at  -- yikes! -- Orlando PI firm Wooten Kimbrough.

What in the world would these "archly white-shoe lawyer pals" think of that?

(On second thought, don't answer that.)

Republican Plaintiff Lawyers Celebrate Crist's Marriage to Real Live Heterosexual Woman!

Howdy folks, so are you on the guest list to the Gov's big "marriage" thingy?

What's that, you won't say?

Oh I get it -- don't ask, don't tell.

Well the Herald leaked a few names anyway -- funny, they all happen to be hotshot Republican plaintiffs' lawyers: Roberto Martinez, Dean Colson, and Paul Huck, Jr., all of Colson Hicks.

Also good guy, former federal law clerk, and current power broker Manny Kadre. That guy gets invited to everything.

Have fun, boys!

Meanwhile, did anyone catch this story in yesterday's NYT on the fledgling "liberal" equivalent to the Federalist Society, something called the American Constitution Society:

When Eric H. Holder Jr. addressed a convention of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy in June, he urged young lawyers to get involved in the liberal legal network, saying America would soon be “run by progressives.”

“With this new administration that will be taking its place in January of 2009, you know, we are going to be looking for people who share our values,” said Mr. Holder, a member of the society’s board. He added that a “substantial number of those people” would probably be “members of the A.C.S.”

Six months later, Mr. Holder is preparing to take over the Justice Department as President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for attorney general. And the American Constitution Society, founded in 2001 to be a liberal counterweight to the conservative Federalist Society, is rising to power.

Although Mr. Obama has just started to fill the thousands of politically appointed jobs in his administration, the society’s affiliates are already well positioned to shape legal policy, hiring decisions and judicial nominations for years to come. In addition to Mr. Holder, other prominent officials in the new administration who have ties to the society include Lisa Brown, the White House staff secretary; Melody Barnes, who will direct the Domestic Policy Council; and Ronald Klain, chief of staff to Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Three other society board members are on the transition’s agency review team, and observers expect that the Obama team will turn to society members to fill subcabinet positions and judgeships.

“People who are committed enough to a progressive vision of the law to work for and with A.C.S. when progressives are out of office are going to be a natural resource when the electoral winds shift,” said Orin S. Kerr, a conservative-leaning law professor at George Washington University who has spoken at society events.

But with power comes temptation. Several society leaders said they were mindful that the Bush administration had gotten into trouble by considering applicants’ affiliations with ideological groups like the Federalist Society when hiring for nonpartisan positions.

“That will not be repeated in the Justice Department in the next administration,” vowed Dawn Johnsen, a law professor at Indiana University who is an American Constitution Society board member and co-chairwoman of the transition’s Justice Department review. “I feel like I can say that with confidence.”

While of course I know of the Federalist Society -- how many times do I have to see Richard Thornburgh at the Miami City Club drone on about constitutional protections in the Age of Terror? -- I personally have never heard of the ACS.

Yet apparently there is a South Florida chapter, run by Steve Rosenthal over at the Podhurst firm.

Since it's unlikely Steve will be at the big St. Pete wedding, maybe he can weigh in on what the ACS is doing locally. If it involves Dick Thornburgh and the City Club, count me out.